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Consumer Electronics Show: Next up, gadgets that predict your needs

By Andy VuongThe Denver Post

Posted:
01/08/2013 06:53:35 PM MST

Updated:
01/09/2013 10:58:56 AM MST

A person tries out a tablet display at the Intel booth during the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday. Such devices are becoming more capable as users discover new ways to use the technology. (Andrew Harrer, Bloomberg News)

LAS VEGAS — At the world's largest technology trade show, gadgets are getting smarter — and not because of the latest computer chips. The things you do and the data you share will drive the next phase of innovation, according to experts at the International Consumer Electronics Show.

"The next step is the age of inference," said David Lieb, chief executive of Bump, a mobile-app developer, during a panel discussion. "The computer is going to figure out what I want to do before I even think about it."

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Bump's latest app, Flock, will try to figure out which photos users want to share, and with whom, based on their what they've done previously, among other things.

"Mobile will enable all of these apps to kind of flip, and instead of me telling the app what I want it to do, the app will suggest to me, 'Hey, you might want to leave for your meeting down at the end of the strip because there's a lot of traffic,' " Lieb said.

"What we're trying to do is use technology to help us better focus on the appropriate consumer with that particular advertising message," said Dish CEO Joe Clayton. "We've got 14 million customers, so we pretty much know what people are watching and their profile."

CES attendee Jefferson Wang, mobile practice lead for IBB Consulting, said, "Innovation that taps consumer data is absolutely the future, and we're seeing the beginning of that today with services like Google Now."

As one example, Google Now uses information such as your location, traffic data and where you work to automatically estimate how long it will take you to get to work each morning.

But when it comes to tapping into consumer data that users may not even know they're sharing, privacy concerns and the risk of backlash are heightened.

"As this market evolves, tech companies must not lose sight of how important data is to the user," Wang said. "When consumers share their data, they expect to receive something valuable in return. If the experience they're getting is too intrusive without strong benefits, they're going to be annoyed and stop using that service."